We will part of a festival they hold every year and will take place in different locations (including mine) from 7 – 9 September. Last year there were 1600 guests, and we are expecting even more this year. We will have food and Israeli music.

I was invited to speak on a new TV station. The man who organizes this program asked me if I would also speak on “El Hayat” in Moroccan to the Moroccans. It has been years since I have spoken in that language, but the Lord gave me grace to give my testimony.

This week I also went into a garden shop and saw a Muslim lady there who looked so very sad. I talked to her and remarked that I could see her sadness and that she has no light or life in her and that I understood how that felt as I used to be the same. I talked to her about Jesus (Isa in Arabic). She wanted to sit and have coffee with me, so I told her about my life and how Jesus had changed my suffering into joy. I asked her to check to see if Jesus is real. She wanted to receive Him in her heart and so we prayed. I invited her to my home and she was so amazed that a Jew would do such a thing.

God is so faithful and I thank Him constantly that He allows me to share my faith no matter where I am. These are such exciting times to live in as we see more and more people wanting to know the Lord.

]]>https://jerusalemnewsnet.wordpress.com/2012/09/06/these-are-such-exciting-times-to-live-in-as-we-see-more-and-more-people-wanting-to-know-the-lord/feed/0jerusalem4newsRachelNetanelWhy the Jewish Temple was destroyed in AD 70?https://jerusalemnewsnet.wordpress.com/2012/09/04/why-the-jewish-temple-was-destroyed-in-ad-70/
https://jerusalemnewsnet.wordpress.com/2012/09/04/why-the-jewish-temple-was-destroyed-in-ad-70/#commentsTue, 04 Sep 2012 15:47:47 +0000http://jerusalemnewsnet.wordpress.com/?p=206Continue reading →]]>The Talmud states:
Why was the First Temple destroyed? Because of three evils in it: idolatry, immorality, and bloodshed.
But why was the Second temple destroyed, seeing that during the time it stood people occupied themselves with Torah, with observance of precepts, and with practice of charity? Because during the time it stood, hatred without rightful cause prevailed. This is to teach you baseless hatred is deemed as grave as all three sins of idolatry, immorality, and bloodshed together.
B. Yoma 9b

About this time is also written:“They hated me without reason.”
Jesus in John 15.25 Brit HaChadasha / New Testament, Bible

John 15,18-25: If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates me hates my Father as well. If I had not done among them what no-one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen these miracles, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. But this is to fulfil what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’

]]>https://jerusalemnewsnet.wordpress.com/2012/09/04/why-the-jewish-temple-was-destroyed-in-ad-70/feed/2jerusalem4newsJerusalemGood Samaritan museum near Ma’ale Aduminhttps://jerusalemnewsnet.wordpress.com/2012/08/29/good-samaritan-museum-near-maale-adumin/
https://jerusalemnewsnet.wordpress.com/2012/08/29/good-samaritan-museum-near-maale-adumin/#respondWed, 29 Aug 2012 05:50:53 +0000http://jerusalemnewsnet.wordpress.com/?p=204Continue reading →]]>The Good Samaritan museum, which is located near Ma’ale Adumin, will be opening its doors to the wider public during the month of August. The mosaic museum is the only one of its kind in Israel, and one of only three worldwide.

The museum is situated on the road outside Jerusalem that is associated with the biblical town of Ma’ale Adumim and the border between the tribes of Benjamin and Judah (Joshua 15:7 and 18:17).

According to the article in Zman Tzafon, August 16, 2012, the site is also associated with “the inn that is mentioned in the parable of the Good Samaritan in the New Testament (Luke 10:25-37).

Three different religious people are mentioned in this parable: Jews, Jesus who proclaims Christianity, and a Samaritan who did a good deed. The museum was built to reflect this parable, and the mosaics were carefully selected along the same lines.” This is why the various historical artifacts on display are from Jewish synagogues, Samaritan synagogues, and churches.

]]>https://jerusalemnewsnet.wordpress.com/2012/08/29/good-samaritan-museum-near-maale-adumin/feed/0jerusalem4newsMessianic Jew fulfilling his dreamhttps://jerusalemnewsnet.wordpress.com/2012/08/28/messianic-jew-fulfilling-his-dream/
https://jerusalemnewsnet.wordpress.com/2012/08/28/messianic-jew-fulfilling-his-dream/#commentsTue, 28 Aug 2012 17:25:37 +0000http://jerusalemnewsnet.wordpress.com/?p=201Continue reading →]]>“After a long legal struggle, Messianic Jew David Ram (20), who is from Jerusalem, has succeeded in fulfilling his dream and was drafted into the IDF.” So begins this article at Yediot Yerushalayim, , August 17, 2012, which features a large picture of Ram in his army uniform. The article tells Ram’s story, how his father discovered Messianic Judaism and decided to raise his children according to this faith.

Ram’s family came to Israel from the Czech Republic when he was five. He studied at the Anglican School in Jerusalem, and being surrounded by many non-Israelis, he became aware the scope of the anti-Israel attitude.

But when Ram wanted to be drafted to the army, the Ministry of Interior would not grant him citizenship because of his beliefs. Ram did not give up and commenced a legal battle which included an appeal to the Supreme Court of Justice – and he won.

Now, after being granted permanent residency, and after being officially considered an Israeli, he has fulfilled the dream he was fighting for. Six months ago, Ram joined the armored corps, and he says his friends in the army accept him in an “amazing” way, regardless of their religious differences. “I am very glad God has directed me to this place,” says Ram. Now his only hope is that his 17-year-old brother will not face the same challenges he did as he prepares to join the army.

Five years ago I was in Eilat and met a young man who worked there. I shared the Gospel with him and he became so excited that he wanted to quit his job and come to learn the Bible with me. I invited him to live at the house so that he could spend his time learning the Word. Before he came, he wanted to spend a month with his very religious family but I did not hear from him again. This week he called me after all this time. He asked if I remembered him. It took me a while to recall our meeting five years ago. In the meantime, his father passed away and during these five years, he did not find himself and he had no peace so he asked if he could come to the lessons here. He will call again next week and hopefully we can continue where we left off. I was obviously very pleased and said that it is a shame that he wasted these five years but I told him that he is like the Prodigal Son.

Another man was a troubled young man and had a lot of problems with fear and one day while I was out of the country, he threw himself off of a nine storey building and died. That was so very hard for me because the family knew that he believed in Yeshua through me and they blamed me for his suicide. They refused to even speak to me all of these years and About a year and a half ago when I was still broken hearted and had given it all to the Lord, they came to me and renewed our connection. The sister of this man came to visit and I talked to her a lot about Yeshua. She is a divorced woman with a little girl and I invited her to come and visit with some believing friends of mine who have children about the same age as her daughter. A few days ago she called and said that she wants to come and check out the lives of believers. I was so happy and so I invited her to meet with my pastor, and later she made a decision to meet with these friends of mine with the children. She wants her child to go to a believing kindergarten. She also wants to come to Bible lessons at the congregation and here in my house. How great is our God!!! I believe that her brother is with Yeshua. “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8: 38-39.

Along with all of these came also battles, the house of Beit Netanel has many serious electrical problems and last week there was a power surge which destroyed my fridge and dishwasher. Two days ago a lady drove her car into the back of mine causing a lot of damage. She just walked away and didn’t leave a note. A neighbor witnessed this so I searched for her and found her sitting in a restaurant nearby. However, she not only doesn’t have insurance, she also does not have a driver’s license so the Lord knows how the damages will be paid for. In all of this I want to praise the Lord for His goodness and His provision.

Two weeks ago, we had the joy of baptising seventeen people in the Jordan River. Of these, seven were from our new congregation in Nazareth, six from Haifa, two from Jaffa and two American tourists!

Two had a background of Christianity, but did not understand much. We visited them at home after they began to come to the congregation in Nazareth and came to faith. They love the congregation and said that God had spoken to them though what they heard there. They are full of joy and faith.

One brother testified that he could not understand why we were so friendly to Jews, but finally had to acknowledge the change in the lives of his wife, sister, and brother and sister in law, as well as the change in the lives of his three eldest children. His sister understood the faith very slowly, but finally decided to join the family of God.

Najeeb’s mother just cried, remembering Najeeb’s former life in the Mafia!

Actually, when she gave birth to Najeeb, she said, “I will give this son to the Lord” Many years passed, and the Lord took her at her word. Now she was baptised, and this time, Najeeb cried!

The children of the man who led Najeeb to faith so many years ago were also baptised. The father went through a difficult time, and finally, nine months ago, Najeeb was able to help him through this and he joined the congregation. As a result of all these wonderful changes, the boys wanted to be baptised and the father took part in the baptism of his two sons.

When I was diagnosed with cancer, the question “Why me?” was a natural one. Later, when I survived but others with the same kind of cancer died, I also had to ask, “Why me?”

Suffering and death seem random, senseless.

The recent Aurora, Colorado, shootings — in which some people were spared and others lost — is the latest, vivid example of this, but there are plenty of others every day: from casualties in the Syria uprising to victims of accidents on American roads. Tsunamis, tornadoes, household accidents – the list is long.

As a minister, I’ve spent countless hours with suffering people crying: “Why did God let this happen?” In general I hear four answers to this question. Each is wrong, or at least inadequate.

The first answer is “I guess this proves there is no God.” The problem with this thinking is that the problem of senseless suffering does not go away if you abandon belief in God.

In his Letter from Birmingham Jail, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said that if there was no higher divine law, there would be no way to tell if any particular human law was unjust. Likewise, if there is no God, then why do we have a sense of outrage and horror when suffering and tragedy occur? If there is no God or higher divine law then violence is perfectly natural. So abandoning belief in God doesn’t help with the problem of suffering at all.

The second response to suffering is: “While there is a God, he’s not completely in control of everything. He couldn’t stop this.”

But that kind of God doesn’t really fit our definition of “God.” So that thinking hardly helps us with reconciling God and suffering.

The third answer to the worst kind of suffering – seemingly senseless death – is: “God saves some people and lets others die because he favours and rewards good people.”

But the Bible forcefully rejects the idea that people who suffer more are worse people than those who are spared suffering.

This was the self-righteous premise of Job’s friends in that great Old Testament book. They sat around Job, who was experiencing one sorrow after another, and said “The reason this is happening to you and not us is because we are living right and you are not.”

At the end of the book, God expresses his fury at Job’s ”miserable comforters.” The world is too fallen and deeply broken to fall into neat patterns of good people having good lives and bad people having bad lives.

The fourth answer to suffering in the face of an all-powerful God is that God knows what he’s doing, so be quiet and trust him.

This is partly right, but inadequate. It is inadequate because it is cold and because the Bible gives us more with which to face the terrors of life.

God did not create a world with death and evil in it. It is the result of humankind turning away from him. We were put into this world to live wholly for him, and when instead we began to live for ourselves everything in our created reality began to fall apart, physically, socially and spiritually. Everything became subject to decay.

But God did not abandon us. Only Christianity of all the world’s major religions teaches that God came to Earth in Jesus Christ and became subject to suffering and death himself, dying on the cross to take the punishment our sins deserved, so that someday he can return to Earth to end all suffering without ending us.

Do you see what this means? We don’t know the reason God allows evil and suffering to continue, or why it is so random, but now at least we know what the reason isn’t, what it can’t be.

It can’t be that he doesn’t love us. It can’t be that he doesn’t care. He is so committed to our ultimate happiness that he was willing to plunge into the greatest depths of suffering himself.

Someone might say, “But that’s only half an answer to the question ‘Why?’” Yes, but it is the half that we need. If God actually explained all the reasons why he allows things to happen as they do, it would be too much for our finite brains.

What we truly need is what little children need. They can’t understand most of what their parents allow and disallow for them. They need to know their parents love them and can be trusted. We need to know the same thing about God.

Timothy Keller is senior pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York and author of The New York Times best-selling book “The Reason for God.”

]]>https://jerusalemnewsnet.wordpress.com/2012/08/06/why-me/feed/0jerusalem4newsBook: Enter Rest – Israel Harelhttps://jerusalemnewsnet.wordpress.com/2012/07/21/book-enter-rest-israel-harel/
https://jerusalemnewsnet.wordpress.com/2012/07/21/book-enter-rest-israel-harel/#respondSat, 21 Jul 2012 09:16:41 +0000http://jerusalemnewsnet.wordpress.com/?p=185Continue reading →]]>Israel Harel casts a completely new light on the New Testament book of Hebrews that will educate even the most seasoned Christ follower. The author explores the backdrop of Jewish culture and concerns into which the Epistle to the Hebrews was written, unpacking the references to Jewish history to help the modern reader (Jew or Gentile) better understand what Jesus has done for each of us. He explores the questions and difficulties addressed in the epistle, while discussing long-standing trends in Judaism and how Jesus fulfills Biblical Judaism and transcends Rabbinical Judaism. Through these discussions, one theme comes through loud and clear: the Epistle to the Hebrews is a strong call to intimacy with God in the Holy of Holies. It is a call to enter into the Sabbath rest of God, into the place where He is all in all.

Israel Harel was born to a secular Jewish family who came as pioneers to the Land of Israel in the early 20th century.
Israel heard the Gospel for the first time as a hippie in the early seventies. Not wanting anybody to tell him what to do, he ran away from God for six years. After living homeless in the streets and spending two and a half years in a mental hospital, Israel finally gave himself up and surrendered to Jesus, who did a great work of healing in Israel’s life.
He came back from his travels to Israel and helped pioneer many Evangelistic works around the country. He has also reached out to lost people for the Lord in South Africa and the US.
After serving in foreign lands for ten years he came back to Israel and led the work of starting a new Hebrew speaking Messianic congregation in the Jezreel valley (Armageddon) in north Israel.
Israel has used his teaching and speaking gifts in many parts of the world. He is married to Shlomit and has three sons.

The current debate over who can be exempted from military service is once again threatening to bring down Israel’s three-month-old unity government. The question as to whether or not Haredi Jewish men should serve in the military which first came up during the 1948 Israeli War of Independence has never been resolved. Avoiding the issue all these years has not helped. It’s only getting worse.

It all began when Prime Minister David Ben Gurion allowed 400 Haredi Jews a special exemption from military service “so that they could give themselves to study Torah and prayer.” The ruling was called “Torato Omanuto” from a Talmudic phrase meaning “Torah study is their occupation.” It allowed some Haradi to commit to prayer while most Jews would go out to the battle. The concept even launched the popular “Tehilim neged Tellim” (Psalms against rockets) campaign.

As innocent as it appeared, Ben Gurion’s ruling was not all about religion. As so often happens in modern democracies political realities often take precedent over moral convictions. Ben Gurion was struggling to hold onto his divided coalition of secular and religious parties in a nation that was at war. He also needed a unified front to plead for statehood before the fateful 1948 UN vote. Exempting a few yeshiva students from military service was a small price to pay for a coalition.

The exemption created more than a prayer. It laid down an entire new paradigm for political jockeying — the 11th commandment of Israel’s social consciousness — the “status quo.” The decision to adapt a political compromise instead of address the underlying conflict has left the issue of military exemptions unresolved for over 60 years. Until 2012 when 15% of Israeli youth became eligible for “Torah occupation.”

Large segments of Israeli society are now boiling over with anger that so many Haredi Jews do not contribute to the military. They claim that these large numbers of exemptions was never the intention of the original ruling. Haredi are threatening to split the government claiming that they have every right to preserve the “status quo.” The underground fuels feeding this conflict for decades have now reached a boiling point threatening more than just the new unity government. They are tearing at the very fabric of Israeli society.

National unity is not easy. In biblical times Israel’s leaders struggled to keep the nation together in times of war and crisis. Like Ben Gurion Moses long ago allowed exemptions for men going out to war. Moses understood well the need to recognize extenuating circumstances. Deuteronomy chapter 20 reads, “A man who has just built a house…, planted a field…, or engaged a bride…, should not go out to battle.” By showing compassion for his men Moses leads the whole nation to fight together to protect their “home, family and field.”

Moses takes it even further. “What man is there fearful and fainthearted… let him go and return to his house, lest the heart of his brethren faint like his heart.” There is a point at which it is no longer beneficial to keep someone in the army. Bad apples can spoil the whole bunch.

Moses understood the need to preserve national unity in the face of mortal enemies by appealing to the peoples sense of common interests and mutual respect. Modern Israel has gotten itself trapped in a political maze of common self interests and mutual contempt.

Clearly there is no simple answer. Maybe it’s time we look beyond pragmatic political expediency and find a way forward by learning from the past. Perhaps it’s time we all became a little more Torah occupied?